My weekly round up

What I do to ease millennial guilt

My weekly round up

Rutland Waters- Bike ride!

This blog post is quite specific to anyone living in the Midlands or anyone visiting but I wanted to share because I had the most amazing Saturday filled with so much laughter. For years I have been going on about how I wanted to cycle around Rutland waters but I could never find the people to go with or the weather to suit. So last week I finally managed to arrange it with the girls, and just spent the week believing the weather would be perfect for us because I was doing this bike ride!

For those of you that don’t know, Rutland waters is a large reservoir in the county of Rutland- Simple as that hey! It has a 25 mile track around the reservoir and surrounding villages which are some of the prettiest you will ever see. Along with various other activities to keep the family busy!

The ride was a little more of a challenge then I thought it would be, I envisaged a nice leisurely stroll around the flat land next to the water, watching ducks, swans and boats go by. Oh no, for the first 16 miles it was up and down what I can only describe as mini mountains, I mean there are some that would have Lance Armstrong struggling even in his doping days. The horse and Jockey was our half way point, a picturesque pub catering to the likes of us who have bitten off more they can chew and desperately need a drink. I have to admit once we passed the pub the journey got a whole lot easier, the hills got smaller and less frequent and we could smell home.

The whole day was filled with laughter and fun and the feeling of achievement when we got back. I was so pleased I had finally crossed it off my list of things I wanted to do, we then went back to the horse and Jockey to celebrate by eating our body weight in pub food. I would definitely recommend it for a day out, I know most reservoirs will offer this but Rutland is definitely one to be seen.

The Prices or the bikes are £14.99 for two hours and £22.99 for all day. For more information bike hire please visit their website.

Important tips

Once you are on your bikes, go right from the cycle hire shop, it is the harder route to start with but means you get a much more leisurely ride home

You can hire the bikes for either two hours or a whole day. Me and my sister are not the fittest but we got the ride done in two hours so you will be fine as long as you don’t want to stop at the pub, if so I would probably recommend the day rate

There are cafes and bars on the way round but remember to pack water

The cycle route is around water where cattle are grazing so there were a lot of bugs at one point, if that’s not your thing pack fly spray.

Everywhere takes card so don’t worry about Cash

Take the map when you get the bike, you may think it is self-explanatory but it’s really not you will need it.

You don’t need to be super fit to do this at all, hiring the bike for longer and just take it steady, I haven’t been on a bike for ages apart from my occasional spin class so you will be fine